1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tension spring takeout device in an apparatus for automatically mounting a plurality of tension springs which are used to spread a pad receive member over a seat frame in an automotive seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the prior art, as a typical example of cushion structures for use in vehicle seat, there is known such a cushion structure as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5,882 of 1972.
Specifically, in the disclosed cushion structure, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of wires (3) are stretched between two side members (2a), (2b) and a separation member (4) is inserted between the thus stretched wires (3) to form a so-called screen-shaped pad receive member (5); and, the pad receive member (5) is then resiliently spread between the front and rear frames (1a), (1b) of a seat frame (1) on the two sides thereof by means of tension springs S, which resiliency can provide a comfortable cushion effect.
The illustrated seat frame (1) is a so-called bench seat frame including two pad receive members (5) which are spread or located symmetrically in the right and left portions thereof. In this seat frame (1), in consideration of resilient touch provided when an occupant is seated thereon, the tension springs are mounted at different intervals.
To mount the tension springs S of each of the pad receive members (5) in the seat frame (1), one of the end hooks formed symmetrically on the two ends of the tension spring S is secured to a side element of the pad receive member (5), the other end hook is inserted into an engagement hole (6) formed in the seat frame (1); and, in this manner, a required number of tension springs S are secured sequentially to either the front or rear frames (1a), (1b) of the seat frame (1) from one side thereof, and then similarly a required number of tension springs S are secured to the other of the front or rear frames.
The above-mentioned operation for mounting the tension springs S of the pad receive members (5) in the seat frame (1) has been performed by means of a manual operation, for the most part, in the prior art. This manual operation has required much labor and has been not efficient.
In order to avoid such disadvantages found in the conventional manual mounting operation, recently, there has been proposed an automatic tension spring mounting apparatus which is capable of automatically mounting tension springs using an industrial robot.
However, since the conventional automatic tension spring mounting apparatus of this type is arranged such that the tension springs are supplied and mounted one by one to their mounting portions, it requires almost the same mounting time as in the manual operation, and, therefore, the working efficiency of the automatic apparatus cannot be improved so greatly.